KURDISH NEWS WEEKLY BRIEFING, 16 – 22 JULY 2016

NEWS1. Kurds call for probe into Ocalan conditions after coup attempt
2. PKK: Democracy bloc must be formed in Turkey immediately
3. Conference participants demand freedom for Öcalan
4. Turkey’s Erdogan promises ‘new blood’ in armed forces after post-coup shake-up
5. Erdogan gets stronger but Turkey is weak and even more divided
6. Turkey: Human rights in grave danger following coup attempt and subsequent crackdown
7. Bahçeli: If AKP Is Ready For Death Penalty, Count Us in Too
8. Erdoğan: ‘We Will Build Military Barracks in Gezi Whether They Like It or Not’
9. Thousands of public employees suspended after failed coup attempt in Turkey
10.Turkey’s coup may have failed – but history shows it won’t be long before another one succeeds
11. Pentagon loses Turkish airspace access crucial in airstrikes against Isis
12. Injured but not out of action: Rojava’s Mala Birîndara
13. John Kerry Meets Vladimir Putin to Discuss New Syria Plan

OPINION, COMMENT, ANALYSIS1. Post-Coup Purge Adds to Turkey’s Instability2. Turkey’s Absurd Coup
3. Turkey’s Manipulation of Europe, Then and Now
4. How they blew the coup
5. Turkey: United against a coup, divided on the future
6. Fethullah Gulen stirs fresh tensions between Ankara and Washington
7. Causes and Consequences of the Coup in Turkey
8. Dark Days For Turkey
9. Hints at a developing western narrative on the failed coup in Turkey?
10. Anatomy of a Turkish assassination fable
11. In Ross Kemp the Kurds have found their Byron: Sky 1’s The Fight Against Isis reviewedSTATEMENTS
1. Turkey: Dictatorship a Step Closer After Deplorable Failed Coup
2. Turkish democracy’s Nightmare
3. GMB Statement on Turkey
4. Unite Statement on the Current Situation in Turkey————–NEWS1. Kurds call for probe into Ocalan conditions after coup attemptJuly 21st/Middle East Eye

The pro-Kurdish People’s Democracy Party are calling for an independent committee to look into the condition of imprisoned Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan over fears that Friday’s coup plotters would have sought to target him.

Ocalan, 68, has been imprisoned on Imrali, an island off the Turkish coast in the Marmara sea, for 15 years after he was given life imprisonment for treason and separatism. Since April 2015, he has been kept in isolation.

2. PKK: Democracy bloc must be formed in Turkey immediatelyJuly 22nd/ANF English

PKK (Kurdistan Worker’s Party) Executive Committee issued a written statement and said that the current political party oligarchy could not democratize Turkey or solve the country’s problems. The committee emphasized the need for establishing a bloc of radical democracy forces that would democratize the country, prevent further coups from happening, and put an end to oppression and cruelty.

200 delegates from Kurdistan and other parts of the world participated in the conference that began on July 19: the anniversary of the revolution in Rojava. The conspiracy against Öcalan, the İmralı system, economic issues, a new economy, autonomous administrations, the Democratic Middle East Confederation and the solution possibilities in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran were the main themes of the conference.http://anfenglish.com/kurdistan/conference-participants-demand-freedom-for-ocalan

It is amazing that the Crescent and Star never ceases to shock with the most unexpected insanity. The capacity to shock is a feature most observed at times of war. And Turkey is at war – a schizophrenic civil war.http://www.meforum.org/6121/turkey-absurd-coup

3. Turkey’s Manipulation of Europe, Then and NowJuly 17th/Middle East Forum

It is a historical irony that, for the second time in a century, Turkey is exploiting a major international crisis to manipulate the most powerful European nation into a hugely misconceived and self-defeating policy.http://www.meforum.org/6117/turkey-europe-then-and-now
4. How they blew the coupJuly 20th/Al Monitor

The consequences of the attempted coup in Turkey on July 15 are already clear in terms of the government’s war against various Kurdish factions such as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK), the Kurdish Syrian Nationalist Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), and the Iranian Kurdish nationalist Party for Free Life (PJAK). Turkey also has to be concerned with Kurdish nationalist movements in the Kurdish Regional Government (KRG) in Iraq in spite of good current relations between Ankara and Erbil.http://lobelog.com/causes-and-consequences-of-the-coup-in-turkey/#

8. Dark Days For TurkeyJuly 19th/Morning Star

ALTHOUGH there have long been signs of opposition to the divisive rule of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist AKP, few really expected the military to attempt a coup on July 15 which has now left 265 dead and 2,800 “coup-plotters” from the country’s military arrested in the immediate aftermath of the dramatic events.https://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/a-4991-Dark-Days-for-Turkey#.V5Ea8unlIyE

9. Hints at a developing western narrative on the failed coup in Turkey?July 16th/Off-Guardian

11. In Ross Kemp the Kurds have found their Byron: Sky 1’s The Fight Against Isis reviewedJuly 23rd/The Spectator

Before I set about reviewing Ross Kemp: The Fight Against Isis (Sky 1), I thought I’d have a glance to see whether other critics had been as impressed as I was. Clearly the flip groovester from the Guardian — who opened, inevitably, with a jaunty quip about Grant from EastEnders — had seen a very different documentary from the one I saw. Otherwise, he could not have failed to be moved by Kemp’s heartbreaking interview with the Yazidi woman from Sinjar who’d recently escaped from Isis.http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/07/in-ross-kemp-the-kurds-have-found-their-byron-sky-1s-the-fight-against-isis-reviewed/

The ITUC has expressed deep concern over the dismissal of nearly 3,000 prosecutors and judges, along with 8,000 police and a large number of civil servants in the wake of the failed military coup in Turkey. 232 people were reportedly killed during the coup attempt, and some 1,400 wounded.

The deficiencies in Turkey’s democracy cannot be remedied by armed force. The fact that the attempted coup by a section of Turkey’s armed forces failed is to be welcomed; what is not is the death of over 300 people in the conflict and the wounding of over 1,000. Turkey’s military must accept that they are there to serve Turkey’s democratically elected government not some mechanism for passing judgment on that government.http://strongerunions.org/2016/07/20/turkish-democracys-nightmare/

3. GMB Statement on TurkeyJuly 22nd/Peace in Kurdistan

We condemn the coup but remain concerned by continued repression in Turkey. Democratic freedoms must be respected and we repeat our call for Abullah Öcalan to be freed.GMB joins the widespread condemnation of the attempted coup d’etat by elements of the Turkish armed forces but is concerned that President Erdogan will exploit it to justify further repression of those who are opposed to his increasingly authoritarian rule.https://peaceinkurdistancampaign.com/2016/07/22/gmb-statement-on-turkey/

4. Unite Statement on the Current Situation in TurkeyJuly 19th/UNITE

In condemning the coup attempt we must not lose sight of the violent and dictatorial regime being established by Recep Tayyip Erdogan and we must continue to stand in solidarity with those who oppose it.
Unite the union condemns the attempted coup d’etat by elements of the Turkish military and expresses its deepest sympathy to the families and friends of the more than 260 people that lost their lives during the violence. Turkey has a long history of coup d’etats and they have always brought suffering and repression for millions of Turkish and Kurdish workers and their families.http://www.unitetheunion.org/news/unite-statement-on-the-current-situation-in-turkey/#sthash.oKh23Qb2.dpuf

EMERGENCY APPEAL FOR AFRIN

Life in Afrin

Weekly News Briefing

Jeremy Corbyn issues statement of support for the National Demo

Message from Jeremy Corbyn to Kurdish national demonstration in London:
“I’m sorry not to be able to be with you today, but I send a message of solidarity with today’s demonstration, and with the Kurdish people, under sustained attack across the Middle East.
The conflict in Syria has been the trigger for an onslaught against the Kurdish people, who are defending their autonomy and their rights.
We are watching closely the alarming events that have been unfolding in Turkey in recent weeks, including the killing of civilians and destruction of Kurdish homes.
Any negotiated settlement of the Syrian conflict must include peace and justice for the Kurds, including in Turkey. And the Turkish government needs as a matter of urgency to restart the peace process with the Kurds and respect the rights of all its people.
We call for an end to repression of the Kurds and justice for the Kurdish people throughout the Middle East.”

Destruction and Repression in North Kurdistan

Freedom for Ocalan!

On the 19th anniversary of his kidnap and imprisonment by Turkey, we renew our call for Abdullah Ocalan to be freed as part of a peaceful solution to the Kurdish question.